Excluding the district of Darayya from the ceasefire agreement is totally unacceptable, the Syrian Coalition said.

At a teleconference with members of Darayya provincial council earlier today, the Syrian Coalition’s General Assembly said that the ceasefire agreement must include Darayya. The district, located west of Damascus, has been under the control of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) since 2012. Regime forces laid a siege on the district after repeated failed attempts to storm it.

Saeed Abu-Jamal, an FSA commander in Darayya, confirmed that all rebel fighters currently in Darayya are from the FSA, categorically denying any claims about the presence of Al-Nusra Front in the district.

Abu-Jamal stressed that Darayya represents a purely revolutionary national example where there are not any trans-border agendas, which is what is worrying the Assad regime as it sees in the district a direct threat to its plans.

Abu Jamal pointed out that that “the Assad regime had invoked conspiracy theories since the very beginning of the Syrian revolution and had accused all its opponents of being terrorists. It also paved the way for the rise of extremist groups in order to discredit the revolution.”

“Darayya has repeatedly refused to succumb to the so-called reconciliation or truce agreements whose terms are favorable to Assad who sought to deploy his forces to other rebel areas across Syria. However, we agreed to the latest ceasefire agreement because it is comprehensive including all rebel-held areas, and we refuse attempts to exclude Darayya from the agreement,” Abu Jamal added.

Abu Jamal went on to say that “we have agreed to UN Security Council resolution 2254 as well as the statements of the Munich, Vienna and Geneva I conferences. But if regime forces violate the truce agreement, we will defend ourselves.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)